Nine Men
Nine Men is a general term referring to a family of abstract strategy board games for two players, played on a board with marked spaces. The objective generally involves forming "mills" (or rows) of three pieces to remove opponent's pieces, and ultimately reducing the opponent to a state where they can no longer make moves or have too few pieces to form mills.
The most well-known game in this family is Nine Men's Morris (also known as Mill, Mills, Merels, Merrills, or Morelles), but variations exist with different board sizes, piece counts, and rules. The common elements across the Nine Men family of games typically include three distinct phases:
- Placing: Players take turns placing their pieces on vacant points on the board.
- Moving: After all pieces have been placed, players take turns moving one piece at a time along a marked line to an adjacent vacant point.
- Flying (in some variations): Once a player is reduced to three pieces, they may gain the ability to "fly" or "hop" any of their pieces to any vacant point on the board, instead of moving to an adjacent point. This is often employed to quickly form mills and capture opponent pieces.
Forming a mill allows the player to remove one of the opponent's pieces. This continues until one player is reduced to only two pieces (and therefore cannot form a mill) or is blocked from making any legal moves. The rules regarding which pieces can be removed, particularly whether pieces within a mill can be targeted, vary by region and specific game variant.
The game's simple rules belie a surprising level of strategic depth. Players must carefully consider both offensive and defensive moves, anticipating their opponent's plans while simultaneously trying to create opportunities to form mills. The game has a long history, with evidence of its existence dating back to ancient times.